‘Aqidah of al-Bukhari (D. 256)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

لَقِيتُ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَلْفِ رَجُلٍ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ أَهْلِ الْحِجَازِ وَمَكَّةَ وَالْمَدِينَةِ وَالْكُوفَةِ وَالْبَصْرَةِ وَوَاسِطَ وَبَغْدَادَ وَالشَّامِ وَمِصْرَ ‌لَقِيتُهُمْ كَرَّاتٍ قَرْنًا بَعْدَ قَرْنٍ ثُمَّ قَرْنًا بَعْدَ قَرْنٍ ، أَدْرَكْتُهُمْ وَهُمْ مُتَوَافِرُونَ مُنْذُ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ سِتٍّ وَأَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً ، أَهْلَ الشَّامِ وَمِصْرَ وَالْجَزِيرَةِ مَرَّتَيْنِ وَالْبَصْرَةِ أَرْبَعَ مَرَّاتٍ فِي سِنِينَ ذَوِي عَدَدٍ بِالْحِجَازِ سِتَّةَ أَعْوَامٍ ، وَلَا أُحْصِي كَمْ دَخَلْتُ الْكُوفَةَ وَبَغْدَادَ مَعَ مُحَدِّثِي أَهْلِ خُرَاسَانَ ، مِنْهُمُ الْمَكِّيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ، وَيَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى ، وَعَلِيُّ بْنُ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ شَقِيقٍ ، وَقُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ ، وَشِهَابُ بْنُ مَعْمَرٍ، وَبِالشَّامِ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ يُوسُفَ الْفِرْيَابِيَّ ، وَأَبَا مُسْهِرٍ عَبْدَ الْأَعْلَى بْنَ مُسْهِرٍ ، وَأَبَا الْمُغِيرَةِ عَبْدَ الْقُدُّوسِ بْنَ الْحَجَّاجِ ، وَأَبَا الْيَمَانِ الْحَكَمَ بْنَ نَافِعٍ ، وَمِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ عِدَّةٌ كَثِيرَةٌ، وَبِمِصْرَ: يَحْيَى بْنَ كَثِيرٍ ، وَأَبَا صَالِحٍ كَاتِبَ اللَّيْثِ بْنِ سَعْدٍ ، وَسَعِيدَ بْنَ أَبِي مَرْيَمَ ، وَأَصْبَغَ بْنَ الفرج وَنُعَيْمَ بْنَ حَمَّادٍ، وَبِمَكَّةَ عَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ يَزِيدَ الْمُقْرِئَ ، وَالْحُمَيْدِيَّ ، وَسُلَيْمَانَ بْنَ حَرْبٍ قَاضِيَ مَكَّةَ ، وَأَحْمَدَ بْنَ مُحَمَّدٍ الْأَزْرَقِيَّ، وَبِالْمَدِينَةِ إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنَ أَبِي أُوَيْسٍ ، وَمُطَرِّفَ بْنَ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ، وَعَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ نَافِعٍ الزُّبَيْرِيَّ ، وَأَحْمَدَ بْنَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ أَبَا مُصْعَبٍ الزُّهْرِيَّ ، وَإِبْرَاهِيمَ بْنَ حَمْزَةَ الزُّبَيْرِيَّ ، وَإِبْرَاهِيمَ بْنَ الْمُنْذِرِ الْحِزَامِيَّ، وَبِالْبَصْرَةِ أَبَا عَاصِمٍ الضَّحَّاكَ بْنَ مَخْلَدٍ الشَّيْبَانِيَّ ، وَأَبَا الْوَلِيدِ هِشَامَ بْنَ عَبْدِ الْمَلِكِ ، وَالْحَجَّاجَ بْنَ الْمِنْهَالِ ، وَعَلِيَّ بْنَ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ جَعْفَرٍ الْمَدِينِيَّ. وَبِالْكُوفَةِ أَبَا نُعَيْمٍ الْفَضْلَ بْنَ دُكَيْنٍ ، وَعُبَيْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ مُوسَى ، وَأَحْمَدَ بْنَ يُونُسَ ، وَقَبِيصَةَ بْنَ عُقْبَةَ ، وَابْنَ نُمَيْرٍ ، وَعَبْدَ اللَّهِ وَعُثْمَانَ ابْنَا أَبِي شَيْبَةَ. وَبِبَغْدَادَ أَحْمَدَ بْنَ حَنْبَلٍ ، وَيَحْيَى بْنَ مَعِينٍ ، وَأَبَا مَعْمَرٍ ، وَأَبَا خَيْثَمَةَ ، وَأَبَا عُبَيْدٍ الْقَاسِمَ بْنَ سَلَّامٍ ، وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْجَزِيرَةِ: عَمْرَو بْنَ خَالِدٍ الْحَرَّانِيَّ، وَبِوَاسِطَ عَمْرَو بْنَ عَوْنٍ ، وَعَاصِمَ بْنَ عَلِيِّ بْنِ عَاصِمٍ، وَبِمَرْوَ صَدَقَةَ بْنَ الْفَضْلِ ، وَإِسْحَاقَ بْنَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الْحَنْظَلِيَّ. وَاكْتَفَيْنَا بِتَسْمِيَةِ هَؤُلَاءِ كَيْ يَكُونَ مُخْتَصَرًا وَأَنْ لَا يَطُولَ ذَلِكَ ، فَمَا رَأَيْتُ وَاحِدًا مِنْهُمْ يَخْتَلِفُ فِي هَذِهِ الْأَشْيَاءِ: أَنَّ الدِّينَ قَوْلٌ وَعَمَلٌ؛ وَذَلِكَ لِقَوْلِ اللَّهِ: {وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَ وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَذَلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ} وَأَنَّ الْقُرْآنَ كَلَامُ اللَّهِ غَيْرُ مَخْلُوقٍ لِقَوْلِهِ: {إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ يُغْشِي اللَّيْلَ النَّهَارَ يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ وَالنُّجُومَ مُسَخَّرَاتٍ بِأَمْرِهِ} . قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ: قَالَ ابْنُ عُيَيْنَةَ: فَبَيَّنَ اللَّهُ الْخَلْقَ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ لِقَوْلِهِ: {أَلَا لَهُ الْخَلْقُ وَالْأَمْرُ تَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ} وَأَنَّ الْخَيْرَ وَالشَّرَّ بِقَدَرٍ لِقَوْلِهِ: {قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ} وَلِقَوْلِهِ: {وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ} وَلِقَوْلِهِ: {إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ} وَلَمْ يَكُونُوا يُكَفِّرُونَ أَحَدًا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْقِبْلَةِ بِالذَّنْبِ لِقَوْلِهِ: {إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمِنْ يَشَاءُ} وَمَا رَأَيْتُ فِيهِمْ أَحَدًا يَتَنَاوَلُ أَصْحَابَ مُحَمَّدٍ صلى الله عليه وسلم، قَالَتْ عَائِشَةُ: أُمِرُوا أَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُوا لَهُمْ وَذَلِكَ قَوْلُهُ: {رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَؤُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ} وَكَانُوا يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْبِدَعِ مَا لَمْ يَكُنْ عَلَيْهِ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَأَصْحَابُهُ؛ لِقَوْلِهِ: {وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا} وَلِقَوْلِهِ: {وَإِنْ تُطِيعُوهُ تَهْتَدُوا} وَيَحُثُّونَ عَلَى مَا كَانَ عَلَيْهِ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَأَتْبَاعُهُ لِقَوْلِهِ: {وَأَنَّ هَذَا صِرَاطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ ذَلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُمْ بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ} وَأَنْ لَا نُنَازِعَ الْأَمْرَ أَهْلَهُ لِقَوْلِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم: ” ثَلَاثٌ لَا يَغُلُّ عَلَيْهِنَّ قَلْبُ امْرِئٍ مُسْلِمٍ: إِخْلَاصُ الْعَمَلِ لِلَّهِ ، وَطَاعَةُ وُلَاةِ الْأَمْرِ ، وَلُزُومُ جَمَاعَتِهِمْ ، فَإِنَّ دَعْوَتَهُمْ تُحِيطُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِمْ ” ، ثُمَّ أَكَّدَ فِي قَوْلِهِ: {أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَأُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ} وَأَنْ لَا يَرَى السَّيْفَ عَلَى أُمَّةِ مُحَمَّدٍ صلى الله عليه وسلم. وَقَالَ الْفُضَيْلُ: ” لَوْ كَانَتْ لِي دَعْوَةٌ مُسْتَجَابَةٌ لَمْ أَجْعَلْهَا إِلَّا فِي إِمَامٍ؛ لِأَنَّهُ إِذَا صَلُحَ الْإِمَامُ أَمِنَ الْبِلَادُ وَالْعِبَادُ. قَالَ ابْنُ الْمُبَارَكِ: يَا مُعَلِّمَ الْخَيْرِ، مَنْ يَجْتَرِئُ عَلَى هَذَا غَيْرُكَ [شرح أصول أهل السنة والجماعة (٣٢٠) وسنده صحيح]

I met more than a thousand men from the people of knowledge from the people of Ḥijāz, Makkah, Madīnah, Kūfah, Baṣrah, Wāsiṭ, Baghdād, Shām, and Miṣr. I met them numerous times, generation after generation, then generation after generation. I encountered them while they were abundant for more than forty-six years. (I visited) the people of al-Shām, Miṣr, and the Jazīrah twice; And Baṣrah, four times within several years. (And) six years in al-Ḥijāz; and I cannot count how many times I entered Kūfah and Baghdād with the Muḥaddithīn (scholars of Ḥadīth) of Khurāsān. From them were al-Makkī bin Ibrāhīm, Yaḥyā bin Yaḥyā, ʿAlī bin al-Ḥasan bin Shaqīq, Qutaybah bin Saʿīd, and Shihāb bin Maʿmar.

In Shām: Muḥammad bin Yūsuf al-Firyābī, Abū Mushir ʿAbd al-Aʿlā bin Mushir, Abū al-Mughīrah ʿAbd al-Quddūs bin al-Ḥajjāj, and Abū al-Yamān al-Ḥakam bin Nāfiʿ; and a large number after them.
In Miṣr: Yaḥyā bin Kathīr, Abū Ṣāliḥ, the scribe of al-Layth bin Saʿd, Saʿīd bin Abī Maryam, Aṣbagh bin al-Faraj, and Nuʿaym bin Ḥammād.
In Makkah: ʿAbdullāh bin Yazīd al-Muqriʾ, al-Ḥumaydī, Sulaymān bin Ḥarb, the judge of Makkah, and Aḥmad bin Muḥammad al-Azraqī.
In Madīnah: Ismāʿīl bin Abī Uways, Muṭarrif bin ʿAbdullāh, ʿAbdullāh bin Nāfiʿ al-Zubayrī, Aḥmad bin Abī Bakr Abū Muṣʿab al-Zuhrī, Ibrāhīm bin Ḥamzah al-Zubayrī, and Ibrāhīm bin al-Mundhir al-Ḥizāmī.
In Baṣrah: Abū ʿĀṣim al-Ḍaḥḥāk bin Makhlad al-Shaybānī, Abū al-Walīd Hishām bin ʿAbd al-Malik, al-Ḥajjāj bin al-Minhāl, and ʿAlī bin ʿAbdullāh bin Jaʿfar al-Madīnī.
In Kūfah: Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl bin Dukayn, ʿUbaydullāh bin Mūsā, Aḥmad bin Yūnus, Qabīṣah bin ʿUqbah, Ibn Numayr, ʿAbdullāh and ʿUthmān, the two sons of Abū Shaybah.
In Baghdād: Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal, Yaḥyā bin Maʿīn, Abū Maʿmar, Abū Khaythamah, and Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim bin Sallām.
From the people of al-Jazīrah: ʿAmr bin Khālid al-Ḥarrānī.
In Wāsiṭ: ʿAmr bin ʿAwn and ʿĀṣim bin ʿAlī bin ʿĀṣim.
In Marw: Ṣadaqah bin al-Faḍl and Isḥāq bin Ibrāhīm al-Ḥanẓalī.
We have sufficed with naming these individuals for it to be concise and not lengthy. I did not see any of them differ in these matters:
That the Religion (including Imān) is speech and action and that is due to Allah’s saying: {And they were not commanded except to worship Allāh, sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give zakāh. And that is the correct religion} (98:5).
And that the Qurʾān is Allah’s speech, uncreated due to His statement: {Indeed, your Rabb is Allāh, who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then did Istiwā (rose above) the Throne. He covers the night with the day, chasing it rapidly; and (He created) the sun, the moon, and the stars, subjected by His command} (7:54).
Ibn ʿUyaynah said: “So Allāh distinguished the Creation from the Command due to His statement: {Unquestionably, His is the creation and the command; blessed is Allāh, Rabb of the worlds} (7:54).” (Tafsīr Ibn Abī Ḥātim (8586), Bashshār is Majhūl, al-Sharīʿah (171), Saʿīd is Majhūl. See Sīrat al-Imām Aḥmad p. 84)
And that good and evil are by Decree due to His statement: {Say, I seek refuge in the Rabb of daybreak (1) From the evil of what He created} (113:1-2) and due to His statement: {And Allāh created you and that which you do} (37:96) and due to His statement: {Indeed, all things We created with a decree} (54:49].
And they did not declare anyone from the people of Qiblah to be a disbeliever due to a sin due to His statement: {Indeed, Allāh does not forgive Shirk with Him, but He forgives other than that for whom He wills} (4:48).
And I did not see anyone among them disparage the Companions of Muḥammad ﷺ. ʿĀʾishah said: “They were commanded to seek forgiveness for them.” (Muslim 3022) and that is His statement: {Our Rabb, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts resentment toward those who have believed. Our Rabb, indeed You are Kind and Merciful} (59:10).
And they used to forbid innovations, whatever the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions were not upon; due to His statement: {And hold firmly to the rope of Allāh all together and do not become divided} (3:103) and due to His statement: {And if you obey him, you will be guided} (24:54).
And they urged (upon) what the Prophet ﷺ and his followers were upon due to His statement: *{And this is My path, straight, so follow it and do not follow (other) ways for you will be separated from His way. This has He instructed you that you may become righteous} (6:153).
And that we do not dispute with the people of authority due to the Prophet’s statement ﷺ: “Three, the heart of a Muslim never brings hatred: Sincerity of action for Allāh, obedience to the rulers, and adhering to their Jamāʿah, for indeed their du’a encompasses other than them.” (al-Dārimī (235) with ʿanʿanah of Ibn Isḥāq but see Aḥmad (21590) with Ṣaḥīḥ Isnād). Then He confirmed it in His saying: {Obey Allāh and obey the Messenger and those in authority of you} (4:59).
And that one does not see (usage of) the sword against the Ummah of Muḥammad ﷺ. And al-Fuḍayl said: “If I had a supplication that would be answered, I would not assign it except to the ruler because if the ruler becomes righteous, the lands and the people become safe.” (Hilyah al-Awliya 8/91 with Sahih Isnad) Ibn al-Mubārak said: “O Teacher of Good, who would dare to say this other than you?” (didn’t find Isnād)

[Sharḥ Uṣūl Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah (320) with Ṣaḥīḥ Isnād]

Even if we don’t find authentication of a narrator in the chain but the fact that Ibn Ḥajar in Fatḥ al-Bārī (1/47), al-Qasṭallānī in Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (1/471), al-Zabīdī in Itḥāf al-Sādat al-Muttaqīn (2/256), and others declared it as Ṣaḥīḥ Isnād then we should follow suit for it’s highly likely that they came across an authentication which we don’t have access to due to many books being lost.

Likewise, the book of al-Lālakāī is proven as his student al-Khaṭīb affirmed it in Tārīkh Baghdād (16/108) and other scholars confirmed that al-Ṭuraythīthī actually transmitted this book correctly and even authenticated his narrations. For this reason Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amanpuri حفظه الله retracted from saying that the book isn’t proven. See al-Taqyīd (p. 178) with Ṣaḥīḥ isnād, Bughyat al-Ṭalab (5/2325) with a Ḥasan isnād consisting of scholars, Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah by Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ (1/353) and al-Subkī (4/40). Also al-Mu’jam al-Mufahras by Ibn Ḥajar (63). The book has been transmitted generation by generation without anyone rejecting it.